Görlitzer Park

Görlitzer Park: Green Lung on Old Railway Tracks

Whoever enters Görlitzer Park immediately feels that this place carries a history. On the site of the former Görlitzer Bahnhof in Kreuzberg SO 36, approximately 14 hectares stretch between the Landwehrkanal and Wiener Straße. The station opened in 1866, was heavily damaged in the war, closed for passenger traffic in 1951, and demolished in 1962 despite residents’ protests. What remains are some track remnants, part of the old pedestrian tunnel, and three converted goods sheds. The park itself was developed starting in the late 1980s according to plans by the Freie Planungsgruppe Berlin, and the concept emerged from citizen participation in the redevelopment area. It still divides the area into three sections: a pond and hills in the east, the central depression that everyone here calls “the Kuhle,” and the western part with the old buildings. In between are spacious sunbathing lawns, a sledding hill, and a bike path between Glogauer Straße and Falckensteinstraße. On Wiener Straße, the Spreewaldbad, a swimming pool particularly geared towards families, also borders the park.

Children’s Farm, SpOrt365, and the Changing Görli

During the day, Görli belongs to everyone. On the edge towards Glogauer Straße, there is a children’s farm with donkeys, goats, sheep, and rabbits that can be viewed, petted, and fed. Additionally, there is a pirate playground in the middle of the park, a large playground by the sledding hill, and a paddling pool for hot days. Since 2021, the SpOrt365 sports program by Sportjugend Berlin has also been available, offering basketball, a football cage, beach volleyball, trampolines, a skate ramp, calisthenics, table tennis, and foosball, all free of charge and without registration.

Hardly any park in Berlin is as hotly debated as this one. In 2025 and 2026, the Senate had Görlitzer Park fenced for approximately two million euros and equipped with 16 gates to be able to close it at night. This did not happen: The administrative court suspended the order in June 2026, and the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court confirmed this irrevocably in October 2026, because the district, not the Senate, is responsible for such regulations. So the fence stands, the gates remain open, and the “Görli Zaunfrei” (Görli Fence-Free) alliance continues to fight against the fencing. Görli thus remains what it always was: a place of Kreuzberg park culture that resists any appropriation.